The Inglorious First

 

In which I began a New Calender Year with the firm resolution not to go chasing yearlists or any nonsense like that. Not even trying. Or casually looking for yearticks. Or 'just trying to get better views'.

 

 

 

That lasted a whole day, which is quite good for me.

 

 

 

 

Getting on with it..

 

After all the fun I had sending 2020 off with a Bang [I will post about this, but I need to sort through some very white photos], I needed to recuperate [and heal] and so it was quite a good thing I wasn't up at first light. Also, my usual Start To New Year List of getting Tawny Owl at 0001 was gratuitously massacred by not only the cruise ships all sounding off at midnight [ye gods, those horns are loud], but the Local Yokels decided to start their fireworks at 2350, for some insane reason....

My last bird of 2020 was a Tawny, which called right outside my window at 2341, so at least it ended well.

Anyways, I only ventured outside in the afternoon, where on Patch patrol I saw the Glonk was still on duty at the Nose; annoying the local gulls and delighting the local birders, and the LTD still there [and still staying out by the Lead Stone]

Glonkalicious baby, yeah!

But it couldn't last. So, the second and indeed third saw me toddling about areas near and far.

 

 

 

Now, I'm still not chasing a yearlist, because that would be daft.

 

 

Probably.

 

 

I might give the Patch a hard go. We shall see.

 

 

Anyways, the thing about yearlisting, even when you're only keeping count, is that it gets you out there. [[BTW, this has been written about before, at length and in far more fluent style, by several other far more famous and skilled bloggers; notably those resident on the Axe, Wanstead, and west Dorset...]]

The listing bug is a persistent little thing, and any form of ticking things off helps relieve that nagging itch [[[this is getting a bit off target...]]]. Ahem.  

 

Try again.

 

Looking for things, seeing them again, ties you in to the cycle of the year [The wheel turns and so on], over and above the satisfaction of finding things, successful searches. Using learned knowledge to predict what might be where, maybe finding them, maybe not, maybe finding something where you didn't expect it - learning something new! - is all part of the joy of something that is, to me at least, a lot more than an exercise in comparative numerology.

Ok, burble over.

In very concise terms, in the first three days of January, I racked up as many spp. as I once did in one [I do rather regret not trying a Glorious First. There's always Next Year. {And my Devon2022 Maximum Effort Let'sYearlistLikeDeadpool.... Uh oh} ], visiting sites in the Bay, the Exe, and Down South.

As for details... Yes, you know what's coming. Another post.

[[Stop groaning]]

 

 

I will

 

Be Seeing You...

 

[Honest]